Foods that are better made in SF than NYC?

Am coming to SF soon for a visit and want to know what foods I should try that people feel are better made than their counterparts in NYC? I've already been to Yank Sing for dim sum and Blue Bottle coffee and will be visiting those places again.

I can't speak for NY, but some things that SF is doing particularly well are Burmese, Peruvian, Mayan, Vietnamese, and of course Californian. My favorite SF spots for each are Burmese Kitchen, Inka's, Poc Chuc, PPQ, and Zuni, respectively.

You may also want to consider Aziza for Cal/Moroccan and Slanted Door for Cal/Vietnamese as you you would be hard pressed to find anything else like them elsewhere.

You must try salted caramel ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery; prefer this to Grom. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to try any other ice cream places in NYC this past Summer. Although I have to say their sorbets were incredible & I'm not even a sorbet fan.

For ramen, I don't think there's anything in SF proper as good as Ippudo. If you're looking for interesting, Asian-inflected creative food in a casual setting at a moderate price point, I'd recommend Commonwealth.

i tried il laboratorio del gelato (ciaobella is still here). i still like our gelateria naia and marco polo gelato (asian flavors) in sf.ice cream in sf is awesome and can't be missed. bi rite has amazing flavor/texture. humphry slocombe has more offbeat flavors, but not as creamy texture. mr and mrs miscellaneous is a good one for bi rite like texture and humphry slocombe flavor creativity. if you happen to be over in berkeley, get an ici ice cream on a conei also had ippudo ramen. we don't have any hirata buns here -- our chairman bao truck is more like the momofuku bun style. actually if you try orenchi ramen on the peninsula or ramen dojo, i think you'll be duly impressed.donut planet beats all the donuts out here.try a torta at torta los picudos (jamon chorizo huevo queso fresco)

ankimo, I probably agree with you 98% of the time, but have to disagree on Donut Plant. I'll take a plain glazed from Stan's over their leaden hunks of dough any day. I still can't figure out how they can say their ingredients are all organic when the flavorings taste blatantly artificial to me.

I'll also add in Lush Gelato, if the OP can get to Berkeley - I haven't had il Laboratorio, but I've had Grom and Cones (and Naia) and Lush leaves them all in the dust.

stan's was nice. do you like stan's better than a fresh one from donut wheel or rolling pin? ie. buttermilk donutreason i like donut planet is that creme brulee donut caramelized top and soft custard -- dynamo's was not as impressive, even the chocolate bacon one

Haven't been to either Donut Wheel or Rolling Pin, but my Holy Grail is the glazed raised donut, and I haven't found one better than Stan's yet.

If I give Donut Plant another shot, it will be to try the creme brulee donut. I did like the tres leches better than the raised ones I've had there, but even the tres leches tasted more like caramel flavoring and less like actual caramel than I'd hoped.

The honey glazed at Donut Pun W. 14th (NY) is pretty decent, have you tried that? I don't know what Stan's is like, but it reminds me a little of some of the better raised donuts found just outside of San Francisco.

I can imagine that. The best glazed I've had on the West Coast did have those exact qualities. The NY version was a little off, lacking that balance. Until you've tasted them both it's hard to describe.

doughnut plant is just a different approach entirely. the proper comparison there would be to dynamo donuts, which isn't really where i would direct the OP. i'd say check out bob's late night, or even rolling pin/happy donut and those type of places.

Robert’s link is the place to discover the “where.” As to the “what,” I would suggest trying the IPAs from Moonlight, Iron Springs, and Russian River. We don’t see much, if any, of these on the East Coast, especially in fresh, draft form.

Add speakeasy and lagunitas to the IPA hunt. Lagunitas does a lot of "specials" (like Maxiumus) which are quite tasty to the IPA lover. I also like Anderson Valley Amber, but it's not an IPA - extraordinary balance.

The trick to beer around here is going someplace that's serving the fresh - a place with fewer taps where the style you like is drunk frequently. So, going to the Toranado for IPAs (it's belgian-focused) is OK but not great. Going to Zeitgeist is better (if you can stand the kids).

Pliny the Elder from Russian River is pretty fantastic. So I second that. Their other beers are good too. North Coast makes some good beer - it's not ipa but the Bourbon barrel aged Rasputin Stout is pretty amazing (regular Rasputin is great too).

Rasputin will put you down though, if you're not careful. It's a whopping 8.9% alcohol by volume. If you want something low in alcohol yet tasty, you should try the Bitter American at 21st Amendment Brewery. Speaking of which, stay away from the Watermelon Wheat. They've been brewing it out-of-state. If you order it at teh brewery, they pour the brew from a can into a pint. You can get that sort of experience by picking up a six pack at a liquor store in New Jersey (my friend found it there) and serving it up at home.

It is likely that any of the beers available in cans are made at larger breweries as the equipment to put the beer in cans is quite expensive initially (I've never seen a craft brewery with equipment to put beer in cans). It isn't unusual for brewpubs to get someone else to make their beer if it appears on retailers shelves in bottles or cans. I know the Buffalo Bills Pumpkin Ale was made in New Ulm MN at August Schell Brewing Company. The only brewpub I know which had bottles available retail that bottled themselves (SF Bay Area) was Marin Brewing and Moylans.

Toronado in Lower Haight has as good a representation of western micros as you're going to find. Unlike places like dba, Spuyten Duyvil, and Blind Tiger in NYC, you're not going to get killed on price (Pliny is like $4 a glass in the afternoon, $5 at night). Unpretentious, great selection (Russian River, Bear Republic, etc), and just a fun place to have a beer.

Ditto on beer and esp. ditto on Russian River. When I've been on my beergeek trips out East, the most common question was always "What is Pliny like?" If you are interest in West Coast style IPAs, Toronado is a great place to go (I would go there rather than 21stA or other brewpubs because you should be able to get a good cross-selection of local offerings, rather than just one brewery). Also recommend City Beer, esp. if you need a hotel room stash.

Absolutely agree. Not sure how much of the Ballast Point and other SD favorites make it out east these days, but I would definitely recommend having some Sculpin, Pizza Port Hop 15 and Green Flash West Coast IPA while out here, as they are near-perfect IPAs in the West Coast style.

You can find Scuplin in the Bay Area. I believe Bev Mo has it sometimes and a few liquor stores carry it as well. I was just shocked at the price, I am used to buying it for $3. Stone's IPA might be worth trying as well.

Good point. I think quality and freshness of the produce actually affects the taste of everything. Thus, this time of year in particular, San Francisco is a better place for food and drink. Well, except pizza.

To the OP, is your visit entirely within the city of San Francisco? Or will you be venturing to other parts of the Bay Area? If the latter, advising what your itinerary is would likely result in some additional suggestions.........

Really? I didn't realize SF had a reputation for bagels. Personally I don't know what all the fuss is about but my husband (plus a lot of other New Yorkers) have strong opinions about bagels and who makes the best. This is one for my husband to taste test.

I always wondered why no one in the Bay Area tried to make an artisan bagel. Given all the artisan stuff from pork rinds and offal to coffee and bread, you'd think someone would try. My only conclusion is it's a regional and cultural thing.

To the OP, dungeness crab season starts next week. I'd get some of that. If you have friends/family near...I'd skip a restaurant and buy 5 or so and cook at home. Also, if you like Yang Sing...you might try Koi Palace which is near South SF. Most consider it much better then Yang Sing...but it will be pricey and could be a zoo wait.

As Ruth mentioned, I was adding pastrami & bagels to the list of things that SF doesn't do proper justice to. It pains me that we don't have something even remotely on par with Katz or Carnegie here.

Since you've already been to Yank Sing, then I agree with others who suggest you try Koi Palace in Daly City. Depending on where you're at in South SF, it's probably quicker for you to get to KP than YS.

When in San Jose, you might want to check out some of the ramen offerings down that way. Do a search for Melanie Wong's ramen shop list here on the SF Bay Area board, and you'll find a number of her top recommendations are in the South Bay.

I never thought 2nd Ave Deli was very good, but a CH friend with nearly identical tastes to mine preferred their pastrami over Katz's, so it may just be that they're both inconsistent.

Though, I have to say that anyone who complains about the lack of good pastrami in the Bay Area has to get to The Refuge in San Carlos immediately. It's a bit sweeter than Katz's, but with the same luxurious texture. It's really, really good.

We're desperately lacking in good Jewish delis, but at least I get to go to LA regularly, where I think they're actually better than they are in NYC.

I went to the reborn 2nd Ave. Deli last time I was in New York. The "juicy" (i.e. fatty) pastrami was better than anything I've had around here, but not as good as Carnegie was years ago (haven't been there since the early 90s).

And he's gotten a hold of a coal-fired oven. Seriously, with all the cross-pollination that has happened in the last 5 years, I'm not sure there's much difference between SF food and NY. You guys got a lot of "mission burritos". The greatest difference is the number of various different foods - we have only a few interesting pizzas (although Little Star is a non-new-york style that's worth eating), but we have some. Same with Pastrami at The Refuge in San Carlos; there's no other pastrami in the bay area, but that's good stuff.

Bagles and Sourdough - that's a stand-off. There are no bagles in SF.

Reading some of the beer blogs, it seems that Russian River sends out test barrels every once in a while, and things like Pliny and Damnation get poured on the east coast - but it's a major even and is gobbled up fast. The current ultra-hop IPA style is really a west coast thing, and the wide variety of smaller breweries makes for some good drinkin. I know you guys are catching up fast, but I haven't had anything quite as good as a fresh Lagunitas or Pliny out east. The freshness of the tap is key - those hops aromatics go fast. There's a long post with an east coaster giving me a list of breweries to try when I'm back east, so the fault may be mine, but I don't think so.

My favorite pairings with a very hoppy IPA has to be pizza. Something in the deep dish style, like Little Star or Paxti's. Something thin like Lanesplitter is OK, but I love when the cheese and hops fight. Yum. The grease of a Rosamunde sausage fresh off the grill isn't bad either.

I don't know what the story is at Una Pizza Napoletana, but had it about a month ago, and I can tell you that something different is going on. His pizza now has this thin layer of gooey, almost uncooked-ness to it that he didn't have in NYC. At first I thought it was just me, but my wife asked me, "Is this underdone?" For fear of being thrown out, I kept my mouth shut. Both pizzas we ordered were like that. I had much better luck with Tony's (which cooks with wood fired, gas fired, coal fired).

THANK YOU. i've never had Mangieri's pizza in NY, but we noticed that the first time we went - doughy. someone tried to tell me it was the style, and if it is, i don't like it. Give me Tony's in North Beach any day.

“things like Pliny and Damnation get poured on the east coast - but it's a major even and is gobbled up fast”

True. Nevertheless, such events are a rarity - more hyped tasting than relaxed drinking. Upon my return to the Atlantic side, I picked up a four-pack of Dogfish’s 90 Minute to help adjust to the time change. It’s a fine beer, but I’d rather have a $4 pint of Blind Pig any day.

The farms of Hudson Valley are excellent with many wonderful micro climates. I doubt many, if any, of the posters are knowledgeable enough about BOTH coasts to make a fully educated comparison. The food culture is vibrant in New York with multiple boroughs of diverse cuisines. The sheer density and breadth of foods makes it nearly impossible for even a native to sample everything, particularly without an unlimited budget.

I agree that there are some wonderful producers in the Hudson Valley, and a few more on that strip of land between the Atlantic and the Delaware River. Nevertheless, there is no comparison between the farm output of NY/NJ and that of the Central Valley, especially this time of year. Consequently, general availability of fresh, local produce is similarly incomparable. Sure, the EMPs and Bernardins on the island get what they want, but that new Korean place in Queens can't.

As someone who is from NYC and also the Catskills/HV and travels to SF often, just for the record I agree with Pookipichu that the produce is Wonderful in the HV, but it's about to end soon, and SF (California in general) has one up on us for only one reason, the weather. They have a 12 month growing season, we have a 7 month growing season, now of course there is more available on both coasts in the late summer than in January but there is NOTHING available here in the winter. With regards to ethnic foods NY has SF beat hands down, not because there aren't good ethnic spots in SF but just the sheer number of different types of people in NY...you can have West African food from Queens that is kick butt one day and the next get great Pho in the Bronx, Koi is great but so is Ocean Jewel in Flushing (ok maybe not as good as Koi). Just a note to the OP I wouldn't go all the way to SF for Peruvian, there is great peruvian in Queens, Brooklyn, Yonkers and Port Chester and for caribbean food it's almost non existent on the WC. Yes, the Mexican used to be much much better, but in the past 10 years the Mexican population in NY has increased 10 fold so if you know where to go (outer boroughs) the Mexican is almost as good in NY. You will get better "Farm to Table" in Feb in SF than anywhere in NYC simply because there is nothing fresh at any farms here in Feb...but in reality I have to disagree with the poster who said that the SF food culture is superior to that of NY, it's different and there are wonderful spots in both cities (Incanto, Canteen, Slanted Door, Dynamo Donuts and Humphrey Slocombe all great in SF) but the list is equally long if not more so for NY...and there is little that you can get in SF that you can't get here, well maybe with the exception of great local wine, sourdough bread and Rancho Gordo Beans! And there is no reason to EVER go to SF for Pizza!

I was right there with you until the last line and a half (for the record, I prefer the Bay Area for overall food culture because of what it offers the home cook - easy access to excellent, affordable farmer's markets, top notch bread even at regular supermarkets, etc - but prefer NYC's restaurant scene for its diversity and creativity).

You can't really underestimate how big the gap is in terms of bread (and not just sourdough)- I have yet to find anything at even the best restaurants in NYC to match Acme or Tartine (and you can find Acme at Safeway out here).

I don't think the gap in Farm-to-Table is seasonal - I've had disappointing tomato salads in NYC when the tomatoes at home are so ripe and thin skinned they burst during my 5 minute walk home from the farmer's market if I'm not careful. I measure the seasons by produce (Blenheim apricots, Santa Rosa plums, Warren pears) that I'd never heard of before I moved out here.

As for pizza, SF (and the Bay Area in general) have made huge strides in the last few years, and I think it's worth it even for a New Yorker to try some of the ones that highlight local produce and seafood (Pizzaiolo's monterey squid with aioli is the first that comes to mind).

The bread at Tartine is very much like (some of) the loaves at Sullivan Street Bakery in nyc (actually, what used to be Sullivan street bakery, the one that's actually on Sullivan street, not the one called Sullivan street which I haven't been to but I've heard is similar....).

That said, the bread is better here - exactly because there are so many high quality sources readily available everywhere from my corner store to safeway to the bakeries and farmer's markets.

We can argue about specifics but broadly speaking SF is way way better for home cooks and NYC is better for eating out.

I would say that as a visitor it's really hard to really get a sense about how great SF food culture is. It's about living here, your kitchen and what you pick up at the market.

I'm not so sure NYC is better for eating out. Certainly it's a bigger place and the culture is geared that way and there's more "nice"/expensive dining options in NYC but the mom and pop/mid-range in SF does quite well.

I think superior is an overstatement but I do think SF does better overall. It's the combo of wine, produce and artisan (bread, cheese, butchers, etc.) and yes the spirit and nature of California (yes, call it left coast hippie) that gives SF the edge. World class wine, world class produce and artisan stuff that competes with any place and weirdness that allows for surprises...like the Korean tacos and wacky Alice Waters who despite the protests changed the restaurant landscape.

What I don't get is the NY attitude about being the best. Geez, when Anthony Bourdain and David Chang came to SF they whined about figs. For pete sake, that's cuz figs grow like weeds here...so you eat them. Conversely I'm still amazed no one in NYC has started to farm NYC heirloom rats...or bed bugs.

Yes of course wine too. But great California wine is shipped country (world?) wide. I haven't checked but I bet Whole Foods in NYC has great CA wine.

Cheese is debatable. There are some great cheesemakers in the Northeast (NY,MA, VT for sure). I find the local cheese here to mostly be fine, not amazing, and way way to expensive (I'm thinking in particular of Cow Girl Creamery - But that said I recently had a smoked maple leaf wrapped goat cheese from Oregon that was out of this world and totally worth the price. Is West Coast local enough?).

Sonoma Jack makes a signature cheese, that's not really considered high end anymore, but it's still a classic. There's great local cheeses!

Whole Foods doesn't sell wine at most NY locations, but the California wines making there way over are of the Trader Joe's selection variety. It's not the best curated list. The good stuff is easily buried amongst Sutter Home and wine sellers aren't usually familiar enough with the wines.

Thew, I think Spanish and Argentiniane wines are probably more readily available in SF for some reason.... they're often cheap wins to stock, and I can't qualify this theory, but I think more interest from a little backlash towards the big house California wines. NY has had far better importing of German and French, etc. because of the days when that's mostly all they could sell. The Upstate NY wines are really underrated too!

I can't agree more on the Dairy farms.

God bless Strauss and Clover-Stornetta, but I'm unaware of contemporaries to Milk Thistle, or Hudson Valley Fresh, and the many others on the East Coast which have a purer taste.

On the flipside, SF has Judy's eggs and Uncle Eddie/Petaluma Farms eggs that I have yet to find equivalents for in NY.

You would be suprised how many Argentine wines are only available in the eastern part of the USA. There are tons of wines from Argentina, but several wineries we went to only had representation on the east coast which really suprised us (Dollium being one that springs to mind immediately).

Spanish wine has traditionally been much bigger in NY and Florida than here, but in the last 10 years, Wines of Spain has been promoting like crazy out here and developed a pretty solid market. I suspect that NY still dwarfs what's available here, although this coast concentrates on the higher priced wines. San Francisco has become the leading market for top German estates growing by leaps and bounds due to the demand for high quality Riesling by Asian restaurants like Slanted Door. According to Burgundy promotion board, the San Francisco area was the top market in the world for Cru Burgundy (premier cru and grand cru) as of an Ernst & Young study about 5 years ago. Could have changed by now.

My experience with Riesling specifically, has been very different, though the tasting events promoting the German wines are far more publicized, and plentiful. Astor Wines in NY carries a larger daily selection than any SF shop. Is the selection better outside the city?

"...K&L in SF and Redwood City and Dee Vine in SF have good selections of German wines." No store in NYC has anywhere near as extensive a selection of German wines as Dee Vine, and to say it is less than a great selection is, well maybe west coast understatement.

I agree for German vintages, Dee Vine is without compare, but that's one wine shop versus the solid selections at dozens of places in NY.

One of the nice things about German wine, is you don't need to buy a high end, collectors bottle to really experience a good version, and most casual drinks aren't wanting both a Spatlesse and a Kabinett.

I had dinner at Silks (Mandarin Oriental) a few years back. The sommelier was quite clear in his appreciation of German wines. I was skeptical at first, this was California, but bought into the concept. Glad I did.

Sometimes I think that Northern California enjoys a love/hate relationship with local vintners. Many restaurants I go to in San Francisco are proud to carry California wines but they seem to be equally pleased to offer French, Italian, German, South American wines. I'm not sure what to make of this, just thought I should throw out my observation.

One last thought: beers seem to be coming on strong at local restaurants. Bar Crudo is a prime example.

What you should make of this observation is the restaurants around here sample the world's wines, to our benefit. If you want to get psychological about it, maybe california remembers well what it was like, being locked out of the world's wine industry, but in reality, I think it's all just globalization.

I love german wine and would enjoy seeing more of it out here. There's a nice gruner-veltner that's been making the rounds, and I saw some other veltner recently.

Care to share what you've found, bb? I stumbled across a couple of central coast GVs this weekend, Chien from Santa Barbara County and Zocker from the Edna Valley, both 2009. Can't wait for a Sichuan dinner to try them out. One other found but not yet tried is a Souveraner Malteser Ritterorden, Riede Hundschupfen 2007 GV Mailberg.

The BBC had a great series called "Oz and James Big Wine Adventure." They covered France in the first series and California in the second. One of the big points made by Oz Clarke about California wine was (to paraphrase), "this is where the rules are broken and it's about the end result and if taste good." He made this point after visiting Bonny Doon and some of the non-big boy left coast weirdos.

Naturally this attitude/concept crosses over to food and artisan stuff in particular. Acme and bread in general is a good example. Cal-Moroccan or Korean tacos...who cares how it came about as long as it tastes good. (It's been noted that Korean tacos came about after consumption of California's biggest cash crop...green bud.)

To be fair, Bourdain and Chang didn't say anything that hadn't already been said by Daniel Patterson, they just did it in a more obnoxious way. I mean, Zuni "did" serve a single nectarine rolling around in a bowl as dessert, and from the gigantic thread that spawned from that a few years ago, even a large percentage of Bay Area diners found that too absurdly minimalist.

I love both regions, but I will say that in a given year, there are more restaurants opening in Manhattan that I'm dying to try than in SF. Too many menus out here adhere to a Bauer-pleasing format - I don't dislike it per se, but I really only need one beet salad/pizza/cocktail/cute waiter option.

That's a bowl. I had the same experience but at Chez Panisse cafe, about 10 years ago. But the peach came on a PEDESTAL PLATE. this was before the days of taking pics of your meals, so i don't have one. But it happened. $8.00.

I had a similar experience at Incanto a while back. I was wondering what the "bowl of fruit" option would end up coming out as and sure enough, it was a white bowl with a hard nectarine and some other fruit that wasn't that great. I think that was about 8-12 dollars too. SF pretentiousness knows no bounds, I thought.

Maybe because the dessert pricing isn't rustic or realistic, it's entirely pretentious. Maybe becayse notion that you're buying and reselling a perfect piece of fruit, upselling it for 2-4 times the price is laughably pretentious.

It's at least a three-times mark up: Blossom Bluff retails for $3.00 lb (or did at that time), but I know they give a discount for volume purchases for retail customers so I assume they do for restaurants as well. Even assuming that the price for restaurants is only discounted ten percent (to $2.70/lb.) a large nectarine that weighs half a pound only costs $1.35. So even with these very conservative numbers, that's a 3x mark-up with no "value added." Pretty steep, IMHO.

It also goes back to this new California idea of name branding a fruit farmer. I think it's a wonderful thing to some extent, but not while promoting the notion that other fruits and farming in other regions (like the Tri-State) are inferior.

I would much rather see establishments offer a bonus piece of fruit, or something of that sort the way some places offer up sorbet as a palate cleanser. That gesture still allows for the same reverence without it turning into a bad skit, or fig on a plate debate.

I have no problem with "naming" the fruit grower. I'd want to know that a nectarine came from one of the premier organic stone-fruit growers in California. It's not that fruit from other places is necessarily inferior, but I *know* this is a high-quality piece of fruit, while a generic fruit could be good or it could be horrible. But I think $3 would have been a much more reasonable price.

Everything has overhead. I think $5 is reasonable...if it's a really good piece of fruit. I mean if a place can charge $8 bucks for a bottle of Pellegrino and it costs $2.50 in a store, I don't think it's crazy.

Which one of those explain making up a profit loss by rinsing off a piece of fruit and dropping it on a plate? Nobody should begrudge a restaurant making a profit, but a 200% mark up best suited for alcohol is counterproductive, in this case.

Have you ever been to a place where they valet your car 10 yards from the entrance and you have to wait in line 10 minutes to get your car? All the while your think, "Man, if I had my keys I could just walk the 30 feet and get in. It's sort of the same thing. If I want fruit, I can do it myself.

If it was good fruit, I would understand. The nectarine could have subbed for a baseball. I believe I mentioned the subpar quality of the fruit in my earlier post, which was, of course, ignored by the SF folks. Good job, guys.

Just to reiterate: I do not think a bowl of fruit for dessert is pretentious. I think a very expensive bowl of underripe fruit is pretentious.

Sullivan Street Bakery (NY) does make one rustic bread they describe as almost like a sourdough, and it's the closest thing to a Tartine Bread (SF) you can find. Bread Alone (NY) at the Farmers Markets makes something reminiscent as well. Still, the Tartine bread wins easily. Part of it may be that they only sell it fresh, instead of making it available all day long. The breads and baked goods in SF are the benchmark.

Another item you're not likely to find in New York is Princess Cake.

As for the big comparison between regions, the biggest problem is New York is playing catch up with the idea of seasonal fresh food, despite having 3 states worth local to them. You would never have to explain to a San Francisco why a restaurant charging $17 for a dish shouldn't be using frozen main ingredients, but that very topic has come up more than once on the NY side of Chowhound.

I think there's a similar issue when people compare an area they know in depth, like I know the bay area, to an area they know less well (like I would compare new york). I've had the pleasure of living now for 7 years in SF, 6 years in the east bay, and 6 years on the south peninsula, and the breadth of eating is still quite huge. I've eaten out about 5 dinners a week over those years, and that's an enormous quantity of restaurants.

Most of what I love isn't covered even on chowhound. Korean in Sunnyvale is nearly untapped.

That having been said, I have to believe greater NY has the edge. Take, for example, the fact that we finally have a polish restaurant again. Rejoycing! We don't really have a strong russian restaurant. African food is Eritrea and that's about it. Thai is currently at a low point.

Interesting: there are more Michelin 1-stars in the bay area guide than in the NYC guide. NYC pulls ahead in 2 and 3 stars, but for quantity of 1-stars, the bay area is ahead by about 20%. Wine country wins the day, if only because they do the kind of restaurant that Michelin loves.

On a recent trip to SF, I really loved Burma Superstar in Oakland, Monterey Market in Berkeley (described to me en route as Fairway on steroids), Blue Bottle coffee and Pepple's donuts. What really struck me is just how great the farmer's markets and produce are.